Wine Roundup

'Tis the Season: It's winter and that means the endless round of charity wine events are starting up. The first of the season? The WFYI Indianapolis Wine Fest, Friday, Feb 9, at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. It's a fun night if you're up for a crowded catalog tasting with a listings book, 50 tables, a few hundred wines (good and bad) and lots of lines for 1 oz pours. $50 for main floor tix; $100 for the connoisseur's area. (If you're tired of the crowds and want to taste some decent plonk, spring for the $100. It's for a good cause.)

Vote for The Good Grape! Regional wine-guy Jeff Lefevere who runs the excellent wine blog, The Good Grape, is a finalist in two categories for the American Wine Blog Awards -- Best Overall Graphics and Best Overall Site. While you didn't see Jeff's blog mentioned in the latest Indianapolis blog round ups (at Intake or Slashfood), he's doing amazing work in the world of wine and getting great notice. From Jeff:

The Best Overall Site is a pretty good one because I'm in the company of a guy named Alder Yarrow from Vinography.com that is the closet thing the Wine Blogosphere has to a celebrity and with Eric Asimov who writes for the freakin'
New York Times.

Vote for Jeff's blog at Tom Wark's Fermentation Daily Wine Blog. Other categories include best wine blog podcast, best blog writing, best winery blog, best single subject blog, and best wine reviewing
blog.

Want! Special Riedel for Oregon Pinot: Oregon pinot noir makers and glassware magnate Max Riedel have announced the design of a new glass specifically for Oregon Pinot Noir. While the Zinquisition is completely right that it's BS such a small "appellation" should get its own glass, and the affect of the glass is suggestive at best, I *love* the idea. It's exactly the obscure kind of kitchenware that I need most. Of course, Zinquisition is correct in that it's a gimmicky PR move by the Oregon pinot noir makers and Riedel and that it could open a very sad door to many more unnecessary regional glasses (Mt. Veeder Cabernet, anyone?), but I still want it!

For the curious, what makes the Oregon pinot glass special? From the release via Zinquisition:

"... [it's a] large-bowled, tulip-shaped glass that flares out gently at the top. This glass was presented along with 11 others in a workshop similar to the first. Tasters agreed that the slightly narrower opening of this glass seemed to focus aromas. Its flared lip reproduced the mouth-feel tasters had experienced with the Grand Cru Burgundy glass. Every single workshop participant agreed that the new glass offered Oregon Pinot [N]oir lovers the best of both worlds."

We're Number One! It's no surprise to many in the wine business or who have researched wine trends in the past few years, but at least one new wine and spirits industry study says the US will be the world's biggest consumer of wine and the world's second biggest importer by the year 2010, cracking 3.8 billion bottles a year. (Currently Germany and the UK are the biggest importers in the world.) The study predicts overall wine consumption will be up worldwide and that China and Russia will crack the top 10 in consumption in 3 years also.

Our Beloved Kahn's: Ahhh, Kahn's. The new store on Keystone isn't quite up and running, but is open and staffed with lots of folks to help. The biggest problem? No prices! The beer cooler was stocked when I was there but the amarones weren't unpacked. Ask for help and you'll get it. Still lots of the same knowledgeable folks. When it's stocked and finished, it's going to be great! (One tip: At the other store, there was a stop light so you could pull out of the parking lot and onto Keystone. Here? No such luck.)